


To Face a Challenge

by DefinitelyHuman



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cat is competitive, F/F, I haven't watched any of the bake-off shows so I improvised, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28243692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyHuman/pseuds/DefinitelyHuman
Summary: Cat is competitive. Kara is helpful. Secrets are out.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant
Comments: 6
Kudos: 86
Collections: Super Santa Femslash 2020





	To Face a Challenge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SapphicScholar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/gifts).



“Keira, get me the Queen.”

Kara’s long used to hearing strange requests from Cat’s office, but this one actually makes her pause. There’s only one person Cat could be talking about, and yet… Did she mishear? Surely she misheard.

Standing and walking into Cat’s office, Kara tries to hide her nerves. She hasn’t misunderstood Cat since the Chipotle incident. That’s a streak she’d rather not break. Even if it means bending- not breaking!- one of Cat’s other rules.

“The Queen? As in…”

“Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, etc., etc.,” Cat says, not looking up from her screen. “The number should be in my address book. I won it from Kate last year at a poker tournament. The poor girl cannot bluff.”

So she hadn’t misheard after all. Cat wants her, a mere executive assistant, to call the sovereign leader of another country.

Kara’s had to make some fraught phone calls in her time as Cat’s assistant, but this might just take the cake.

“And why should I say you’re calling?” she asks anyway, long used to obeying Cat’s direction. This is hardly the first strange request she’s gotten. Though it might be the first likely to land her on a foreign watch list.

Cat hesitates, an unnatural phenomenon that has Kara looking up from her notes in shock. Cat never hesitates. She goes for what she wants with a single-minded determination that puts everyone else to shame. Given the right tools and a support team, Kara’s absolutely certain Cat could solve any problem set in front of her. It’s just a matter of finding those tools.

It passes quickly, but Kara’s used to cataloging every reaction from Cat. And it makes her realize the confidence that replaces the hesitation has to be a cover.

“I have been challenged,” the words drip with sarcasm, “to a bake-off. Comments disparaging my baking ability were made at last night’s awards dinner and I refuse to let them pass.”

“And the Queen can help you with that?”

If she didn’t know Cat was fully human, Kara’d be afraid of the glare coming her way. Just short of her own heat vision, Cat’s gaze is scorching all on its own. Clearly, the comments were worse than Kara thought.

Thinking back, Kara remembers that Lois was at the awards ceremony last night, an awards ceremony where she didn’t take home any of the more prestigious prizes. And an awards ceremony where Cat  _ did. _

Now, Kara’s heard Clark talk about Lois often enough to know the rivalry between her and Cat isn’t always as fierce as it seems. But that’s not to say there aren’t flare-ups from time to time. And given that Cat is insisting Kara call the Queen of England, well. This particular flare-up might be an inferno.

“The Queen cannot help me win a bake-off, no,” Cat bites out. “But she can get the producers of that inane reality show to allow me on. ‘Must be a resident of the UK’ indeed. What am I supposed to do, buy an apartment in London and change my address? What would that do to CatCo’s stock?”

“There’s always the American option,” Kara offers without thinking. “You should meet the residency requirements for that, right?”

“I own shares in the production company; therefore, I’m banned by by-laws from participating. Now get me the Queen, or find me a new assistant.”

Rushing back to her desk, Kara starts making a mental list of the supplies she’ll need over the next few days. Because if she’s being honest, there is no way this will end well.

***

Cat’s in the  _ worst  _ mood after the Queen turns her down, citing some law protecting the UK’s TV networks. It’s not a comfortable few days for CatCo, and eventually, Kara can’t take it.

Landing on the balcony one night as Supergirl, Kara takes a moment to study Cat closer than she dares while being an assistant. What she sees isn’t encouraging, and reinforces her decision to go forward with this plan.

“Miss Grant?” she calls after a few moments, not wanting to startle Cat if she happens to look up and spot the superhero looming. “You’re here late.”

Despite her care, Cat does jump a little at the sound of Kara’s voice. But she recovers quickly, heading to the balcony to join the hero there. And she snags her glass of whiskey, Kara can’t help noticing.

“Supergirl, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Rao, even her voice sounds hoarse, now that Cat isn’t trying to keep the mask up for her employees. This argument with Lois must have been worse than Kara thought.

“Just wanted to check on you. You haven’t been at CatCo this late in a while, but I’ve seen your lights on the last few nights.” It’s the truth, but Kara leaves out the time she’d spent hovering carefully out of sight, debating whether to make her presence known. She wants to help, hates seeing Cat this torn, but what can she do, really? Supergirl isn’t even supposed to know something’s wrong, and Kara isn’t supposed to care that much.

Of course, that particular ship sailed long ago, but the last thing Kara wants to do is admit that little fact. She’s sure Cat’s noticed something, the woman is too sharp to be utterly oblivious to Kara’s feelings, but it can hardly be the first time someone had a crush on the CEO. Hero worship, baseless admiration. Those are safe.

The truth? Well, that’s a lot more dangerous.

“Oh, everything is fine,” Cat says with a wave of her drink. She doesn’t sound even remotely convincing, not even to someone who doesn’t know her as well as Kara does. So even as Supergirl, Kara feels safe leveling a disbelieving stare in her direction. “Don’t give me that look; it is. Everything is under control.”

“I think we both know it’s obviously not, Cat.” The use of her name stops Cat’s protest, and Kara can’t help the thrill that runs down her spine at her own daring. “Please, is there something I can do to help? It’d be terrible form if National City’s superhero couldn’t help the only woman in the city that’s more powerful than I am.”

As expected, Cat shakes off enough of her mood to preen a little at that. But it doesn’t last long before her face falls once more. “I’m afraid it’s not as simple as a warehouse fire or a pet stuck in a tree, Supergirl. Just a few taunts that shouldn’t be as painful as they are. And an old fool who let them get to her.”

“You’re not old, and you’re definitely no fool,” Kara protests. It earns another smile, though this one fades as quickly as the last.

“I think there are plenty of people who would argue, Supergirl. Myself at the front of the line. At least tonight, though that might be the whiskey talking.”

“Then why not put the drink away?” Kara can’t help suggesting. “Maybe things will look clearer without it.”

“Oh, Kara, not everything is that simple,” Cat says, tossing back the last of her glass.

Kara freezes for a long moment, mind racing at superspeed trying to think of a response. “Did you just call me Kara?” is all she can come up with, and it sounds flat even to her own ears.

Cat fixes her with a disbelieving look, walking closer until she can look Kara directly in the eye. “I am an award-winning investigative journalist with a history of making senators cry. I run the most prominent media empire in the United States. And I work beside one Kara Danvers for an average of 10 hours a day. If all that somehow wasn’t enough, I have never met a single person who cares about my drinking habits and general well-being more than you, Kara. I can pretend to an extent, but even I have a line somewhere.”

Kara still wants to argue, but somewhere around Cat listing how much Kara cares for her, all the arguments get firmly derailed. Because while she’s gotten used to denying part of her history, her identity, Kara can’t bring herself to deny that. Not when she already knows all the other denials are useless anyway.

“How long have you known?” she asks instead, smiling a little at the familiar flash of delight in Cat’s eyes. The woman loves being proven right; that much will never change.

“That you were extraordinary? From roughly the second month you were here. That you were Supergirl? Well, I believe we’ve already been through that particular mess, haven’t we?” The raised brow reminds Kara of the terrifying days when Cat first confronted her, and all the hassle they’d gone through to convince her otherwise.

Or apparently  _ appear  _ to convince her otherwise.

Deciding that she isn’t actually all that surprised, Kara moves past that revelation. After all, there’s still a rather pressing matter to address. And if Cat hasn’t tried to fire her since then, it’s hardly likely she’ll try again now.

“Well, I guess that makes sense,” she starts, then realizes she has no idea what to say next.

“Why are you here, Kara?” Cat asks, moving the conversation along the way only she can. “Is it just about the late nights, or were you going to have Supergirl give your horrible boss a lecture about uncomfortable workplace dynamics?”

Kara can’t help stepping back, a shocked look on her face. “Miss Grant, I would never. I mean, yes, the office has been a little tense the past few days, but you’re stressed! I wouldn’t lecture you; I just want to help!”

The honesty in Kara’s voice is enough for Cat to soften, a fact Kara files away for later. So much about this conversation has been a revelation; Kara’s not sure how much more she can take.

“That does sound like the Kara I know, I suppose. Well then, Supergirl, what did you have in mind?”

Gathering her courage and the few scraps of a plan she’d managed to come up with, Kara starts. “You’ve been challenged to a bake-off, right? Nothing says it has to be one of the shows. In fact, I think you’d hate being on one of those. The scheduling hassles, the filming locations, watching judges criticize your work-”

“I get it; you don’t have to keep going,” Cat interrupts. “Though I admit, you make good points. The solution?”

“Ah, right,” Kara says, floundering to regain her thought process. “The solution. What about an on-air competition with Supergirl? A friendly rivalry, shot and filmed by CatCo for a human interest piece. No strange producers yelling at you, no giving up creative control.”

Looking thoughtful, Cat settles against the balcony wall. “That could work. It fills the challenge requirements and shows that we do things a little differently here in National City. No aloof superhero, Supergirl isn’t afraid to mingle with us mere mortals.”

Biting back a few defenses of Clark, knowing that his status as an award-winning journalist puts him closer to the spotlight than a mere executive assistant, Kara just nods instead. She’s given away her own secret, a fact that should probably scare her. But she won’t give away Clark’s. Not if she can help it.

“I just have one question for you then, Supergirl? Can you actually bake?”

Scrambling for a diplomatic answer, Kara eventually shakes her head. Hiding the truth won’t do either of them much good at this point. “There wasn’t a need to cook or bake on Krypton, and when I got here, I wasn’t interested in learning boring Earth things.”

Looking interested, Cat nevertheless moves past that tidbit without asking a dozen questions. “We’ll have to fix that, then. Are you free tomorrow?”

“I, uh, I think so? Barring any, you know, emergencies.”

“Good. My penthouse, 7 sharp. We’ll get some practice in. It wouldn’t do any good to challenge Supergirl if she can’t boil water without heat vision.”

“I’m not that bad!” Kara protests immediately. Cat isn’t impressed, arching one brow as she looks over. “I’m not. I can make a few pasta things, and soup is always a good go-to for high energy use days.”

“Still, baking is entirely different. And if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it  _ right.” _

And really, Kara can’t argue that. So she gives in, nodding at Cat. “7 sharp, then.”

Going to take off, Kara turns back when Cat reaches out to rest a hand on her arm. “And Kara? Thank you.”

“Any time, Cat.” With that and a smile, Kara lifts off to hover above the balcony. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It’s not until Kara’s almost a block away that she hears Cat’s voice again. “It’s a date.”

And if she nearly flies through a few billboards at that? Well. Kara thinks she can be excused.

She’ll have to call Alex tomorrow. One, her sister needs to know that Cat knows. And two, Kara still doesn’t have any idea how to dress for a date. Especially one with Cat Grant.

Oh yes, preparations must be made.


End file.
